Porn Websites Use Malicious Code, Compel Visitors to Pay Money

Online hunters of pornography are already in great danger from the malicious code that many porn websites run to divert visitors' computers to an unsafe area on the Internet and then steal their personal data.

In a new development, cyber criminals are using the threat of extortion where they disable visitors' systems by inundating them with an unending stream of pop-up advertisements if the users refuse to pay the subscription fee on account of automatic sign up by the user after certain free software trail.

Researchers at McAfee Avert Labs reported the threats in the first week of December 2007 that would affect visitors by installing themselves on their systems when users browse the website to download software with which they can obtain a three-day trial for free.

Though the visitors get access to the free trial membership but when they download software, it installs a code that displays pop-up ads whether the user is online or offline. The ads demand an approximately $80 fees for additional access for 90 days.

The pop-up windows remain open for about ten minutes and make an appearance once in 24 hours. Also, they show up in the area of any windows that is displayed, and always maintain their original dimensions if moved or shrunk, as a result, they are impossible to avoid. In addition, the ads reappear every time the system is restarted.

The sites, however, warn visitors that they would be charged as whole members and would lose control of their PCs if they failed to pay up the membership fee, unless they cross out the subscription during the period of trail. But the alert is included in an extensive statement of terms and conditions, which downloaders are not mandated to read. Users who pay the fees can, however, remove the software using a particular file.

Researcher Seth Purdy at McAfee Avert Labs wrote in the blog that the new scheme was equivalent to extortion because criminals are exploiting the users by taking advantage of their dependence on the computer for daily activities. Digitaljournal published this in news on December 1, 2007.